A few weeks ago I listed my primary criteria for what constitutes a dream job. In the meantime I have traveled more miles than any previous 3 week stint in my career, and the current trip isn’t over.
But that’s OK, because it is a dream job to me. I am doing work I enjoy and learn from each day, I am working with people who are all committed to achieving our company goals, and most importantly, I head out for vacation with my amazing wife starting about noon on Friday.
Today, I arrived in Buenos Aires. I have been here before, but this is a pure work trip. I visited offices of people who work in our IT group, and they have this spectacular view. This picture looks southwest from the 25th floor of a modern downtown building.

Near sunset, looking southwest from the office.
Would this be part of a dream job for you? Perhaps the view of the port and the Rio de La Plata would be more appealing? There were plenty of offices and cubes with views of all kinds.
The reality for many of these people is that they are generally virtual workers. The commute to downtown on a regular basis would crush their day, and is mostly unneccessary. The view is not redemption for a bad commute. They love their jobs, but if they had to commute everyday, it would probably not be a dream job for them.
Do you have trade-offs as part of your dream job? Know what they are before you dive into the dream!
About a year ago, I wrote this post about the ten thousand hour rule, and how people couldn’t really have all the expertise they claim on their resumes or on LinkedIn. I suggested that you keep it all focused on those few things that you are uniquely expert in. Recently, however, I have noticed that…
Continue Reading »
The suburbs of Atlanta are covered with subdivisions. A good number of them have tennis courts and community swimming pools. When I moved here 9 years ago, the pool sounded good, but we hardly ever used the facilities. Behind it all was a team of volunteers who ran the board, responded to complaints from residents,…
Continue Reading »
Just as my Google Reader (I mean Feedly) is a central place to stay current with my favorite blogs, I use a podcast app to collect my favorite podcasts. Some are NPR shows that I can’t listen to at the time of broadcast. This week Marketplace Money spent the entire show on issues related to…
Continue Reading »
Bloggers will talk from time to time about “finding their voice”. A simple expression to say their writing is in sync with their thinking. As we are all influenced by how we experience life, my voice is impacted by others. Since first loading up my Google Reader, I know that I have been influenced to…
Continue Reading »
One of the interesting things about my cruise vacation is that in addition to family groups, there are work groups. Perhaps they are celebrating last year’s great results, or a team is being rewarded for the completion of a major project. Whatever the reason, the team in the yellow shirts likes to drink. I saw…
Continue Reading »
I am traveling this week, but can’t resist breaking away from all the fun to share an observation on today. Workplace safety has always been important to me, and I first started blogging on that topic here. This week’s vacation is on a cruise ship, and I found myself going through the emergency drill today…
Continue Reading »
I used to watch TV game shows regularly. I liked Jeopardy, and when my mother-in-law was visiting, we also watched Wheel of Fortune. It’s a good puzzle show, but beyond the game itself, I find it interesting to watch people’s strategies. Most contestants know the frequency of letters in words, so they go after the…
Continue Reading »
I was in my car Saturday morning when I heard a news report that confirmed what we knew would happen. The president signed the sequestration order that we knew was coming. In his speech, he stated that “… Republicans in Congress chose this outcome over closing a single wasteful tax loophole that helps reduce the…
Continue Reading »
In engineering, the word “mode” is used in several contexts. There are modes of operation and modes of failure, for example. Any mode might also be looked at as a collection of elements that combine to make up that mode. Marissa Mayer has a big job to do. Yahoo! is a big, and some would…
Continue Reading »