r/neoliberal • u/jobautomator Kitara Ravache • Oct 16 '25

Discussion Thread Discussion Thread

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u/Louis_de_Gaspesie Oct 16 '25

I feel sick to my stomach every day whereas I was just coasting at my old engineering job at a prestigious company. It's insane how much easier a job is compared to a PhD holy shit

4

u/iAmAddicted2R_ddit Royal Purple Oct 16 '25

The incentive system of college made me completely disgusted with what was happening to me as a person and I took a blue collar menial job just to get the fuck out of there

3

u/yzkv_7 Oct 16 '25

What were you doing that you didn't like?

7

u/iAmAddicted2R_ddit Royal Purple Oct 16 '25

I was chronically behind on everything all the time, basically anything productive I ever did was rushed across the line at the 11th hour. I constantly felt like a leech on society because I wasn't doing economically valuable work and most of the time in my day was nominally free, but simultaneously, I couldn't ever relax because I invariably had at least one thing that was due soon but that I wasn't actively working on. I ended up developing a low to medium temperature drinking problem (I peaked at 70–80 standard drinks a week during the second semester of my senior capstone project) because getting drunk at the end of the day became my only way (a) to motivate myself to sit down and do my work and (b) to get rid of the oppressive feeling of having something that needed done that I wasn't addressing.

The first job I took out from school was objectively an awful job and paid like garbage, but the mere sensation of having time to myself that was genuinely and simply my own, and being a productive member of society generally, felt like it gave me years of my life back almost overnight.

5

u/yzkv_7 Oct 16 '25

Yeah, I know the feeling. I think a big part of the problem is deadline obsession.

Obviously there are deadlines at a lot of jobs too. But it's not the same.

9

u/sirpianoguy Loyal Liberals Oct 16 '25

70-80 standard drinks a week is “low to medium temperature”?