My job has a lot of features that I like. I like the people I work with, the flexibility of my schedule, the autonomy within my work, and even the actual work itself. The one thing about my job that I’m not in love with is the fact that I feel like I’m going back to school, without the promise of a degree to show for it. Don’t’ get me wrong, training is a beautiful thing, but for the next three weeks, I’m in class listening to a series of lectures on such fun topics as Contract management, budgeting, finance, engineering, and quality assurance.

It’s true, I do work in the materials management industry. However, I didn’t think that a customer accounts specialist needed to know about the process of calibration, contract payments, and strategic acquisition planning. If I knew this going in, I would have stayed in the contract management field and been happy with my lot in life.

I guess I can’t complain though. If I successfully complete all of the training associated with my job, I am automatically guaranteed a $10,000 pay raise and consideration for leadership positions. For all of that, I’ll gladly do these pidly courses and stand on my head to boot.

It’s just that there are those days, when you are almost made the victim of death by power point that you stop and wonder, “Is this what I really want?” As the answer concerns dollars signs and the potential for lots of them, the answer is obviously “yes, and shut up about it.”