Does your job define who you are?

Oh p1ke you know I don't agree with that! I think that you do what you can to put a roof over your families head, clothes on their back and food in their bellies - if you can afford to do that them you are on a winner - anymore is a bonus! I do think that you should be all you can be in life and that if you can do a job that you both enjoy and are good at then you have more than most! There are different reasons for being unemployed - most of which are perfectly acceptable and understandable - those people are usually the ones who beat themselves up as being worthless and of no use! There are people who have NEVER worked and have no intention of ever working - these are the people who know how to work the system to get the most out of it that they can and take advantage of the system - these people are the ones who need to be forced to get a job. To be quite honest if I were fit to work I would be more inclined to clean toilets than to accept benefits and would feel a lot more useful! xxx

I think that our jobs can define who we are but I do not think that they should. We all, as you say, have something to offer. I, for example, do not have a "proper" job but I am currently spending my time bringing up my children who, I hope, will make a positive contribution to society. My current contribution and role is to provide society with two hard working, caring, intelligent and law-abiding people. I would think this is just as valuable as the jobs they will do in their future. Of course, someone's achievements in their career are important and people should be proud of their achievements. Who we are, the kind of people we are, is not determined by the role we undertake although these two statistics can be infuence of each other. If someone is a doctor, for example, then, while I have no doubt that there is a lot of hard work involved, there would usually have to be a well-financed background. There may be lorry drivers who are perfectly capable of becoming doctors in an academic sense but do not have the means to pursue it. Doctors and road sweepers - just to use two of numerous examples - are just as valuable as each other. For some people, their job or career does define them because they have chosen it to whereas others think that their job defines them because they do not realise that it doesn't have to. Using myself as an example again, I am a mother. I also have a paid job as a distributor but that is not who I am. Being Mum is my most important job and my main role but that does not take away from the fact that I am also a writer, a poet, craftswoman and a student of other subjects. These are all parts of me which go together with everything else to define who I am. So, no, in general, unless you choose it to, a job does not define who you are.

Everyone has something to offer. I work as a cleaner but I don't feel inferior to any of the people I work with. I was brought up with a very practical father who often said we would miss the sewage worker much more than the executive. He felt all people were worth something whether working or not.

you are so right about that. what you do is not who you are. being a man or woman does not define who you are. you we really are loving children of God. anything after that is just a label and has nothing to do with who we are as a person

no i dont think it does but yes, the first question many people ask is what do you do for a living. well my answer to that is that it doesnt matter what i do. currently i work in an office, but that will change shortly due to health issues and i will go back to crafting and writing for a living.

pikefish we all do have something to offer eachother. from warm hearts to practical heads to people who can heal us, we all have things we can offer others even if only some' good advice. I do not really feel inferior to someone in a high paying job altho I would love to make the money some of them make. I worked for years shelving books and other media in our local library and I never felt it was beneath me or that I was less valuable than the head librarian. without the books and media on the shelves people would be hard put to find something to read.lol

Do you know what Mr.Fishy? I've got one of the best jobs in the world, I don't get paid a penny for it, but it's wonderful and I wouldn't change it for all the money in the world, no, I don't mean the 'job' as a Likisma consultant, I mean the job of being a Mum, I've had a few different (well a lot actually) jobs, but nothing compares to being a Mum. My son is a wonderful child, he's intelligent, he does really well at school, he's a high achiever (without being pushed too much), he's polite and he tries to be friendly too. What better job could I have? As for the 'real' job I have, I don't get paid much for it, actually I think I end up with minus something or other at the end of the month, but I really enjoy it, I'm interesting in alternative remedies, aromatherapy etc., I can work my own hours and if I don't feel like working for a whole month I don't have to. (It's still not as good as being a Mum though). ;)

Do you feel inferior to someone in a high paying role, or a job that involves high academic standards? Absolutely NOT....I have a complete grade 8 partial grade 9 education...I worked in the adult entertainment industry for several yrs...I made good money doing it (too bad I p1ssed it away on partying though)...Does that make me less of a person or does it make me inferior to a CEO, a doctor or Senator etc? NOPE.... What defines me is my character, my core being, my heart and soul NOT what I wear, where I live or what I do for a living.. excellent topic!!

I am currently unemployed, I guess I could be one of those parasite for other folks, but no, I don't depend on them. I am aiming for a high salary, that's why I decided to quit my job and look for greener pastures. For sure, I also have my share with society because I used to have a work. I feel lucky and sorry at the same time, lucky for I have helped others to inspire them and sorry for those whom I haven't got the chance to help. Looking for a job here in my country is really very hard, some available work cannot even help suffice the whole family and that's where we usually end up searching for jobs outside our country..

may be its define me,. here i do not want to boost anything. just to say i am a software engineer by profession. its what i wanted to be. may be its makes me happy. i do still have some inferioty complex as i have not done MBA.

Yes, being employed in one way or another makes you a more useful member of society (and I am including those stay at home mom's who's husband or s/o works). As for the unemployed being parasitical, that depends on the circumstances, are they receiving unemployment because they worked for many years and got laid off due to no fault of their own, and need a little help while they actively search for a new job, or are they simply sitting back taking in what unemployment they can receive, not looking for a job. If the latter is the case then yes, they are parasitical and we are all paying for them to sit at home and not look for a job. And, yes, what we do and our career path does have a bearing on who we are and what we feel. No matter what we do, if you are proud of your job and what you do in life, then you set a better example for your children and other people that you meet along the way. I have never felt inferior to anyone, I began my career path in a volunteer position, went through training and work my dream job as a result of that, are there others that careers that pay higher sure there are, but I'm happy with what I do, wildland firefighter, has it shaped who I am, yes it has.

every body has their own characteristic, habit and that characteristic or habit is influenced in the job field every body has their own prinsip this prinsip bring to the job field that they like so job and habit has a strong relationship

I'm all for the "getting through school and college and getting out on the career ladder" too but I managed to become comfortable middle class with nothing more than a GED. Could I have gone to college and spent 6 years of my life getting a piece of paper that would qualify me for a 6 figure a year salary? Sure, but my family came first. And I have seen too many people who went the college degree route who are now working full time in a clothing store for barely over minimum wage. Having an education certainly "helps" to obtain good paying careers but does not guarantee one. So no, I don't feel inferior to someone in a high paying role. I'm smart, a hard worker, and do my best at any and every job I have ever held and my employers were obviously more impressed with me as a person during my interview then anything a piece of paper could have told them about me. I feel that everyone should do some type of work. Even if not for monetary compensation then do some sort of volunteer work. It makes for a well rounded individual. But I look no differently on the cashier at McDonalds in their 40's then I do my family doctor who is the same age.

While I don't think your job defines you, I do think it says something about you at that time. Jobs come and go and we all have intrinsic value just for being human, but when I meet someone for the first time, what they do for work gives me a clue into their personality. It just takes a different kind of person to get through medical school as opposed to, say, a street artist. Not that one is any more valuable than the other, but it tells me something about what they have valued in their life and what they enjoy.

Pike when I was nursing there was a class distinction between RNs and LPNs. I had Rns that looked down there nose at us lowly LPNs. Did it define me as a person, no not at all. I was a wonderful CNA and I made a fantastic caring LPN and would have made an outstanding RN if I had continued int hat direction. Education does not change your core personality. I do believe in honest good people it builds on it, but does not change it. I have at times let people like that make me feel inferior, but not for long. Eventually I stop that dialog in my head that says they are better than I am. What I find parasitical is stereotyping people. I do not need lots of money and material things to be happy. My needs are minimal compared to how some people live. I need the basics and enough to be comfortable. So I choose not to continue with my nursing education, and a few years ago quite completely to help rear my grand children. That was a big adjustment for pops and I. Now I have the best of both, I can work and care for the two grand children I have committed to, and when they are in school I am thinking of education but of a new sort. Even unemployed I had something of great value to add, not only to my family but my community as well. I do not believe that it is your employment that should dictate our worth. It is what we are to friends family, the world at large that makes the real difference.

I only work from home now but the jobs that I used to work outside of the home, did not define who I am at all. I just had to take whatever I could get to help keep my head above water and pay the bills. I now work at home and that makes me very happy even though I do not make as much as I used to. I really do not consider myself to be unemployed because I work online seven days per week and my funds help buy things and pay the bills too. I am just as valuable as the next person because I do all of the bills and keep up the home and yard also and make money daily.

Not as a whole person, but I think your job does affct how you and others define yourself. Affects, not the definition in and of itself. I've had a handful of jobs and I'm still pretty young. I've been a house-keeper, a babysitter, an odd-jobber, a writer, I've done volenteer work...and this year I'll be a gardener and who knows what else. But just because you have a job doesn't mean you like it, or that it's something you'd personally have sought out to do. You work because you usually need to or want to. To be unemployed is not always your fault. Especially in today's hectic and floundering economy. Being employed is a necessity. Everyone's an individual though, and we're all meant for different things, in my view. Your job doesn't say much about you, except about what you're willing to do. Sometimes, when weighed with other factors it'll say what sort of personality you may have. But all the other things about you are required for your job to say anything. People are too complex to be so simple that a single fact or piece of information could tell someone everything about you. I don't feel inferior to people with high paying jobs or ones which require alot of smarts. Jobs are jobs, the end. And not all intelligence is the same, and money does not bring happiness...so it's moot, to me. I want to do something that I enjoy, something which isn't dull or doesn't involve small amounts of activity. I want something which requires me to think, something that at least pays decent and allows me the freedom I crave. I could quite happily in fact, work several different jobs over the course of my whole life...I love trying new things, and being changeable in that I could have a different job every month or so doesn't not appeal to me.

P1ke...I've worked for alot of people and was treated great by some and horrible by the others that were jealous of my work.When i went to work it was because i needed the money to feed my children not to be in competition..some mistook that for kissing A.. and after awhile i just gave up and found me a place to open my own store and have been doing fine here for 16years..I will never work for anyone ever again.Don't need the hassle Today I am serious in my response and will refrain from flirting..LOL

A little bit. I work in a tech support field and I must say that I like networking but I prefer programming though. Cheers!

When we live in a Society that stresses more on academic achievement not necessarily of a very high standard - that is the grades and ranks you have got are positioned more as your successes rather than real knowledge acquisition.So the rat race or competition is the reality.In such circumstances external factors directly influence your progress.Be it Education or Career and Jobs,these ultimately define you. Of course it is better if we define ourselves.But this is almost an ideal.It demands you to define your path and passion towards your dreams. I for one during my college days did feel inferior than some of the guys who seemed like thay had everything going for them.Similarly during my job hunting days too I used to think of other batchmates of mine who were in high paying jobs.Ultimately though I managed to find a good job myself and earn well.The point is external factors have defined me - my performance in college,my job and the like. But I am seriously looking at changing this.It is very important to chart one's own path and define the things oneself.