Is a Boring Job Actually Better?
So, I was watching that 1999 movie called Office Space the other day. It’s a comedy, set right at the peak of the 1990s corporate scene. It’s always been one of my absolute favorite movies. But lately, the more I watch it, the more I notice something.
The whole point of the comedy is this really cynical look at working a dull job at a dull company. But honestly, the more I see it, the better the jobs of characters like Peter and his co-workers start to look.
Yeah, because it’s a comedy, the writers took a lot of creative freedom to make Peter’s workplace seem extra terrible. But even with all that, 20 years later, it really doesn’t seem that bad.
- His office cubicle? That would be a total luxury for most folks working in today’s open-plan offices with no walls anywhere.
- He’s allowed to take super long lunches with his friends.
- Even his boss, who’s shown as this over-the-top jerk, understands that asking someone to work on a weekend is a big ask, not just something you’re expected to do.
This whole thing got me thinking about that old saying: “Find a job you love, and you will never work a day in your life.”
Let’s be real, most of us go to work because we have to, not because we want to. That means a lot of us are stuck spending a big chunk of our waking hours doing stuff that isn’t exactly fun.
A clever trick that school career counselors and those gurus you see on LinkedIn often push to get around this not-so-great situation is to tell you to find a job you’re passionate about. The idea is that if you love what you do, you’ll be excited to go to work every day, and it won’t feel like work at all.
On the surface, yeah, that sounds pretty smart. And these days, with all the new tech, there are tons of different job titles out there. New professions and careers pop up constantly. My job, being a full-time YouTuber now, didn’t even exist 15 years ago. But now, it’s apparently the career path kids want most, even more than classic cool jobs like astronaut.
But here’s where I do what I do best: I want to kind of rain on this parade of finding total fulfillment through your job. Instead, I want to try and convince you that what you really want is a really boring job. A job that doesn’t make you, or anyone else, jump up and down with excitement. A job nobody would even really dream of having.
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Why “Exciting” Jobs Aren’t Always Great
Okay, back to the jobs. There are definitely a lot of jobs out there that look really appealing on the outside. Based on various things, they seem way better than other jobs.
Think about being a doctor, lawyer, or a high-level corporate executive. These jobs are attractive for a couple of reasons:
- They traditionally pay very well.
- They are highly respected by society in general.
Honestly, if you tell someone you’re a C-suite executive at a Fortune 500 company, you’re instantly going to get more respect than if you told them you work in retail. Is that how it should be? Of course not. But it is how it is, and people are willing to give up a lot for that kind of respect.
These kinds of roles also come with the expectation of really long and unpredictable hours. And that’s not even mentioning the years of intense studying or the corporate politics (“butt-kissing”) you need to do just to get the job in the first place.
Now, there’s nothing actually wrong with these jobs. Most people who go after these careers know exactly what they’re signing up for, and the trade-offs are pretty clear. A lot of people do these jobs more for the prestige than because they genuinely love the daily work.
What About Jobs People Are Passionate About?
So, what about the jobs where people are supposedly really passionate and would just love to do them? I’m talking about fields that get people genuinely excited, like:
- Gaming
- Fashion
- Travel
- Sports
Imagine getting paid to make video games or fly around the world attending fashion shows. Sounds like a total dream, right?
Well… not really.
Big, well-known companies in these kinds of “aspirational” industries are, more often than not, terrible places to work.
Here’s the simple reason: They know that tons of people desperately want to work for them. So, if you, as an employee, aren’t okay with putting in unpaid overtime, dealing with bad management, and accepting lower pay compared to other industries, guess what? There are dozens, maybe even hundreds, of other people with similar skills who are willing to put up with all that. Why? Because they just want the chance to work what they thought would be their dream job.
Because of this, these companies tend to have extremely high turnover rates. This is especially surprising when you consider they’re often hiring skilled, career-focused people – the kind you’d usually expect to stick around longer than the average worker.
Now, quick side note: Changing jobs regularly can actually be a good career move. Employees who switch companies about every two years, on average, tend to be paid significantly more than those who try to climb the ladder internally at one place. But you need to be leaving for the right reasons.
- Quitting your current job for a new, more senior role at another company that offers double your salary? Great career move.
- Quitting because you just can’t mentally handle another week of intense coding crunch-time? That will probably stall your career development.
You Won’t Love It Forever (Especially When Forced)
Another big reason it might not be the best idea to turn what you love into your job is that you probably won’t love it forever. Even the most exciting jobs you can think of involve a lot of boring tasks.
- A video game tester? They’ll spend most of their time doing the same levels over and over again just to find glitches.
- Most people working for NFL teams? They spend their days in an office answering emails, just like everyone else.
Even if a “dream job” does manage to live up to the hype at first, there’s one sure-fire way to end up hating something you once adored: being forced to do it for 40 hours a week, with the constant worry of losing your home hanging over your head if you don’t.
Honestly, you’re way better off working primarily to make money, and then using that money to enjoy the things you love on your own time, exactly how you want to.
The Unexpected Perks of a Boring Job
Okay, hopefully, I’ve convinced you that those exciting-sounding jobs aren’t always what they seem. But surely that doesn’t mean a boring job is the best option, right?
Well, boring jobs actually come with a few big advantages that a lot of people don’t think about:
- Easier to Get: A boring job at a boring company is, on average, going to be easier to land than those rare, highly sought-after positions at trendy companies. Having more job options available, especially when you’re starting out, can give you a big head start over peers who wait ages or do long, unpaid internships just to get into a traditional “dream” field.
- Often Pay Better: Boring jobs, believe it or not, often pay more on average.
- Ford’s median employee salary in 2018 (including bonuses, overtime, stock) was $64,316.
- GM’s median employee salary was slightly higher at $77,849.
- Tesla, which seems way more exciting to most people, paid its median employee just $56,163 in the same year.
Now, this won’t be true for every single company, of course. But generally speaking, if a company has tons of people who want to work there, they can usually get away with paying their employees less.
This pattern is even clearer when you look at entire industries:
- On average, web developers tend to earn more than game developers.
- A marketing manager for Exxon will likely earn more than a marketing manager for the Patriots football team.
- An administrative assistant at a bank will probably earn more than one at a fashion magazine like Vanity Fair.
If your main goal for working is to make money, you should really focus on maximizing the amount of money you can earn for doing that job. Let’s be honest, you probably won’t even see the company name on the side of the building from your desk anyway.
Boring Jobs Can Be More Enjoyable Workplaces
Now, even if making money isn’t the absolute most important thing for you when picking a career, a boring job still has its perks. Boring jobs can genuinely just be more pleasant places to work.
A boring company is more likely to be filled with employees and managers who understand that a job is simply something people do to earn a living and put food on the table. This kind of practical attitude often leads to more productive workplace relationships.
Think about it: A manager at a typical, boring company who’s been in their role for decades and has no big plans to climb the corporate ladder is probably not going to take it personally when you ask for a raise, a promotion, or a reference letter.
Contrast that with a company where management has completely bought into the “we’re changing the world!” mindset (“drunk the Kool-Aid,” as they say). You’re much more likely to face resistance when you try to do things that all employees really should be doing regularly, like asking for more money or better opportunities.
Time and time again, you hear stories about high staff turnover and toxic workplace cultures in companies that sound super exciting from the outside. This often happens because when managers believe their work is more important than just, well, working a job, they naturally start expecting their colleagues to work harder than is reasonably fair.
Toxic workplace cultures are almost inevitable in environments where managers think things like straight-up verbal abuse are just “heated disagreements” among people who are “too passionate” about what they do. These types of managers are also more likely to get away with it in “exciting” fields because, again, high staff turnover isn’t a big worry when there’s a seemingly endless line of new job candidates waiting.
The Best Bonus? Better Management (Often)
Now, before anyone jumps into the comments: yes, you are absolutely right. There are fantastic managers and terrible managers in every single type of company. But, you are significantly more likely to bump into a bad one in a job that you initially thought was going to be exciting.
And that brings us to maybe the biggest bonus of a boring job: better management, on average.
That manager at the boring company who’s been there for a decade has a huge advantage over the manager at an exciting company with constant turnover: experience. Working for a manager who has seen pretty much every problem the job can throw at them is usually a much smoother experience than working for someone who is just figuring things out as they go along.
A more experienced manager also often has less to prove. If they feel secure in their own position, they won’t feel the need to push their employees to the absolute limit just to avoid becoming another turnover statistic themselves.
Last month, I actually made a video about why management often feels terrible, and the reason that topic was so important is because people usually don’t quit jobs, they quit managers. Even the most amazing, exciting job in the world would quickly become unbearable with a useless manager who takes their own failures out on their team.
Working a boring job gives you a better chance of finding a good manager. And a good manager can make your time at work not totally miserable, and they can actually help you progress in your career so you can earn more money. Then you can use that money to enjoy the hobbies that other people were, perhaps, a bit misguided in trying to build a whole career around.
Why We Love Shows About Boring Jobs
I have a little theory about why we all seem to love shows like Office Space, or TV shows like Parks and Rec and The Office, so much.
These shows definitely exaggerate the realities of a boring workplace to a hilarious degree. But at the same time, they also show them as being surprisingly comfortable places to work. The people tend to stick around, and even the “bad guy” bosses aren’t truly abusive towards their staff.
Maybe this just shows how incredibly low our standards are for comfortable working environments in America. But I think it’s more than that. We turn to these kinds of shows for comfort; they’re perfect for binge-watching. We probably wouldn’t do that if, deep down, we didn’t secretly think that maybe working alongside those characters in those somewhat dull offices wouldn’t actually be such a bad thing.
Now, if you want to understand more about why finding a good manager can be so tricky, go check out my video on why company management is often terrible.
And a special thank you again to Morning Brew for making it possible for everyone to keep learning about how money works.