Careers with endless learning curve? Do they exist?

[jesski]

So, I have this friend. She's held a lot of jobs and done a pretty good job, but she's really smart and tends to get the hang of things really quickly, and then....get bored and switch jobs again. For example, she took this legal research/paralegal job right out of college, and after working there for 5 months or so, felt like there was really nothing more left to learn and became increasingly miserable. I'm not sure if she's really learning all she can at each position she's held, or if she's just seeking constant entertainment. But her "predicament" has sort of gotten me thinking...

Are there any industries or career paths out there, really, that allow the employee/professional to continually solve new problems and experience a pretty steep learning curve for nearly the entirety of their career?

Over the 4th of July I was chatting with an asset manager guy in his late 30s/ early 40s who randomly brought up the phenomenon of getting bored 6 months into a new workplace as "the problem with [my] generation." He said, basically, that he gets a new batch of analyst recruits every year from the "Millenium Generation," a.k.a. recent college grads/ people in their 20s now, and almost everyone he hires gets into some kind of slump around the same time that they start to get the hang of their job.

He asserted that this was the major difference between "Millenials" and "Baby Boomers"-- that baby boomers are content to complete the same task year after year, day after day, and don't consider it an insult to their intelligence to do so, whereas millenials demand constant stimulation.

It's hard for me to know whether this is true or not, because I'm part of the generation in question, and consider my professional experiences (which are pretty limited), and those of my friends, to be typical. I was wondering if anyone has had experience with or believes that there's merit to this supposed phenomenon.

[FrankZappa]

See, this is where when they outlawed bosses kicking employees in the ass every once in a while and using a cat of nine tails on thursdays screwed everything up. Now we'll have a whole generation that won't be able to get anything done.

[MakersTeleMark]

Writing, composing. Most creative jobs.

[gorms]

Yes...is there a career out there you cant get better at everyday?

[Danno]

Some law jobs are like that, the more intellectual pursuits like doing appellate law, clerking for a judge, etc. Other law jobs can be mind numbing.

[Parvo]

I think most of us on this board would agree that dentistry is full of wonder and amazement every day and provides for a rich lifetime of continued learning.

[Name Redacted]

TGR admin?

[jmf]

Yeah, the issue is not that someone can "master" a job in 6 months, so much as someone lacks the maturity and passion to understand the difference between proficiency and mastery. It's one of the problems associated with only doing things for what it get's you, rather than doing something for enjoyment.

[doublet]

Entrepreneur. If you get bored find ways to grow your business or start new ones.

[Chowda]

I've been there; reaching a point where there was nothing left to learn that could make me better at my job. I saw this as the time for a promotion, or at least new duties. The problem was the company had an unwritten rule that they did not promote from within.

I understood this philosophy. It was a very small management team, and promoting someone, would mean that 2 people were not very good at their jobs yet. I think most professional jobs have a long learning curve if a company is willing to let you continue along the curve. I mean your paralegal friend hasn't really reached the top until they become a supreme court justice.

Job hopping is a legit way to grow your career these days.

[cranked]

So, I have this friend. She's held a lot of jobs and done a pretty good job, but she's really smart and tends to get the hang of things really quickly, and then....get bored and switch jobs again. For example, she took this legal research/paralegal job right out of college, and after working there for 5 months or so, felt like there was really nothing more left to learn and became increasingly miserable. I'm not sure if she's really learning all she can at each position she's held, or if she's just seeking constant entertainment. But her "predicament" has sort of gotten me thinking...

Are there any industries or career paths out there, really, that allow the employee/professional to continually solve new problems and experience a pretty steep learning curve for nearly the entirety of their career?

Over the 4th of July I was chatting with an asset manager guy in his late 30s/ early 40s who randomly brought up the phenomenon of getting bored 6 months into a new workplace as "the problem with [my] generation." He said, basically, that he gets a new batch of analyst recruits every year from the "Millenium Generation," a.k.a. recent college grads/ people in their 20s now, and almost everyone he hires gets into some kind of slump around the same time that they start to get the hang of their job.

He asserted that this was the major difference between "Millenials" and "Baby Boomers"-- that baby boomers are content to complete the same task year after year, day after day, and don't consider it an insult to their intelligence to do so, whereas millenials demand constant stimulation.

It's hard for me to know whether this is true or not, because I'm part of the generation in question, and consider my professional experiences (which are pretty limited), and those of my friends, to be typical. I was wondering if anyone has had experience with or believes that there's merit to this supposed phenomenon.

Definitely entrepreneur and lots of positions in finance (investment banker, VC, buyout shop roles, etc.).

Ultimately you may produce the same, or a similar, end result, but the work you do in all of these jobs is always changing, incredibly challenging, and has a continuous learning curve.

The pattern you see with serial entrepreneurs is that they love starting a business, solving the challenges, but once a business becomes self-sustaining and slower growth, they move on to their next idea.

On the finance side of things...people don't really get bored with the work (in the three roles i mentioned), they get burnt out because the load is so huge and never ending.

[4matic]

Network Engineer in a redundant realtime environment.

[iscariot]

Ph.D.




678

[wandering, not lost]

Teaching. New students always present new challenges. Of course, that sometimes means you feel like you're getting worse at your job temporarily.

You can't rely on the job for all the motivation, however. Some of it definitely has to be intrinsic.

[krp8128]

Researcher (as in cutting-edge)
ER Doctor
Politician with questionable morals
Hooker

[summit]

Medicine!

[geomorph]

Ph.D.

If you become bored or find a career in academics/research non-challenging, you're doing it wrong.

Honestly, most jobs that require an advanced degree will fulfill the not-boring/challenging requirement, so tell your friend to get their ass back to school.

[XtrPickels]

Medicine!

While this ought to be the case there seems to be many doctors, typically of an older generation, who think they have all the answers and are stagnant in their diagnosis and treatment.

It comes down to the person. You can think you know everything or you can realize that you don't.

[gh444]

Everone gets bored at work. Everyone.

[schuss]

It depends on the depth you want to learn things. I worked at my job for 6 months, got promoted (in the same dept), learned a whole bunch of new shit with my new responsibilities. 1 year later, happened again, switched gears focus-wise, but still learned a bunch. Year and a half later, happened again, and learned a bunch of new shit.

Everyone hits the "malaise" stage of any career, as to just survive it's usually pretty easy to learn enough to get by, as there's really no industry that's fully populated by super-geniuses.
Really, you reach the point where you need to either be promoted or leave for a better job in the same sector so you can really start to dive into it deeply. Most entry-level positions/1 tier up just require you to be able to dress yourself and show up every day (think freshman year college classes).

[tensile]

Materials Engineering
Bio-Chemistry

The state of the art in fields like these changes daily, you can never master them.

Consulting Engineers. There are people who are professional problem solvers. People call you when they have fucked something up or are scared they are about to fuck something up. You fix the problem, teach them how not to fuck-up again and move on to the next retard. This is both extremely rewarding and extremely lucrative, but you will need to have a good bit of quality experience to keep it going (I didn't say long experience, you don't have to be old, you have to be good).

[Staggerwing]

Ok, I'm reasonably smart, an engineer with post-grad experience working in medical research. There is always something to explore, and titillate the brain cells, but boring comes in being measured by the quantity of your original thinking that has made it to print in the intervening 12 months since your last review.

Now, the truly gifted, and I'm at least smart enough to understand that is not me, get to cut their own path through this world, and need not be worried by such trivial matters as finding a job that keeps their interest beyond 6 months.

For an example, I only need point you at Google's man of the day, Nikola Tesla. And, that is not tongue in cheek, as he, like the Wright Brothers, Madame Currie, and Charles Darwin found plenty to keep them occupied. Of course, there are plenty of more contemporary heroes, one need only look.

But, if you are at peace with yourself and the world, something can be revealed in even the most humble of tasks. Being bored is the easy way out.

[schuss]

Network Engineer in a redundant realtime environment.

That's not so much an endless learning curve as an endless series of oh-shit moments.

[splat]

Are there any industries or career paths out there, really, that allow the employee/professional to continually solve new problems and experience a pretty steep learning curve for nearly the entirety of their career?

Theoretical sub atomic mathematician?

[BeanDip4All]

ER Doctor

Agree. In the ER where I volunteer, we see something totally different and off the wall almost every single shift. Today it was an 87 year old woman who had swallowed her dentures. Last week, a 5 year old with a cockroach in his ear (which was STILL ALIVE when the dr pulled it out) and also a homeless man with uremic frost. The uremic frost was crazy, apparently rather rare- all the med students & PA interns came off their rounds to come check it out.

Politician with questionable morals

lol.

Medicine!

agree.

It comes down to the person. You can think you know everything or you can realize that you don't.

agree.

Further, I think it comes back to the old adage, "only boring people get bored." I think in many, MANY professions, there are constantly new ways to challenge yourself, things to do continuing education on, new things and techniques to learn, etc. It comes down to challenging yourself to seek out those opportunities, and finding fulfillment in the work through that. Don't let yourself get stagnant. There's always the fall back of teaching others your skills as well- fostering new minds on a subject tends to renew one's own passion for the material as well.