The Problem with Big Company Work
I have been working in the corporate world for over 10 years now, working for companies of all sizes, shapes, and forms. Companies that have a culture, that want a culture, and that think they want culture.
In my time working at these companies — in the many different capacities that I have held — in the end they are all the same to some degree.
No matter what title you hold you are there to shepard along someone else’s ideas in order to make money for that person and yourself.
There does seem to come to a point, however, that the role you are in really takes on the title and you are now subject to the mindless tasks that the job entails.
Let‘s take sales, for instance, if you are working at a company in their sales department the whole role comes down to simple math—so many outreaches + so many pitches = what the company wants.
The same goes for the creative side of the house. Something that you create sparks interest which turns into a lead that gets fed to the salespeople in order to work through their math problems.
Whoever is best at their math problem and loves to rinse and repeat is the champion of the company and is rewarded handsomely.
After so long you end up leaving one company to go to the next with the thought that the grass may be greener on the other side, which I am sad to report, it is not. The grass is the same and so is the job that you will be doing, the only difference is the people, the culture and maybe the way you report up but the essence of the work is the same.
There seems to be a mold that companies create and want those they hire to fit, I have trouble fitting into these molds.
Now for many people, this is OK; they like if not love the grind. Money is made, money is spent and the corporate ladder is climbed. For others that life is not meant for them and they realize that from the beginning and pursue other interests and build their lives in a different way.
Then there are the lost souls that find themselves bobbing and weaving through life, one foot firmly planted on the grass and the other planted on whatever it is they are building for themselves.
I do believe that there is a happy medium out there, and I can find it. It seems to be a quest that I have been on for most of my life. A place in the corporate world that allows you the freedom to be who you really want to be.
My quest will continue but I am afraid that the grass that grows in the corporate world will not be greener on the other side.
We will see where I end up but in the meantime.
