What Do You Actually Do for Work?

Hello all,

Currently finding myself in a position for where I feel "stuck" in the corporate world.

Purpose of this post is to find out what other roles are out there, and just spark dialogue RE: different professions.

Without the fluff, and without trying to sell your job, knowing this is an anonymous forum and you've no pride to protect, what really is your job…what does it require you to do? And if you're comfortable disclosing, roughly what do you earn?

I feel like when I ask my colleagues/friends/network, they're all always hyping up their role in an attempt to "sell" how happy they are.

I'll kick us off - I work as an Auditor at a B4 firm. My job requires me to go on-site to where my clients are located, to "test" their financial statements. i.e. The annual report that they release each year, and the numbers within it…their integrity is the responsibility of my team.

It involves a lot of reperforming, and recalculating what the client has calculated. i.e. if they say they have a couple hundred mil in a bank account, we call their bank/s and double check that the balance is indeed correct.

It's a pretty boring job because it's pretty repetitive. Plenty of menial/robot-like work.

What about you?

Edit: me, $60-$70k approx

Thanks

Comments

    • +1

      Sorry, well aware of that thread, and the thread started earlier today too.

      This is more focused on role/career/duties, opposed to all the other info that was asked.

      I'm trying to gauge more about what jobs are out there, and if any intrigue me.

      • +22

        Plenty of jobs out there you might find fulfilling.

        Looks like Accountant is the winner! Wait…..

        • +1

          Rare antique modem collector

          Wut?

      • Look, for Satisfaction pick a field
        you know well, where you're doing:

        • Something for Others who Gain by your help

        Rule of Thumb:

        • Once you have $40K, more doesn't make you "happier"

        (Of course, pay-off any debts & buy a house, first…)

        Maybe view a few good TED talks for ideas + perspective

        If you're more eccentric, maybe try:

        • app "Jewish.TV" (eg, Manis Friedman; Michael Chighal; etc.)

        (Be selective; if you're Not Jewish you'll want to skip lots)


        If you're concerned about Climate Change:

        • help raise $$ for your fav Safe Small Green, Liquid-Fuel, Molten Salt Reactor (MSR) start-up

        (Maybe experience DK or SE: YouTube "Pedersen TEDxCopenhagen")

        I like: TEI's IMSR; UK's Moltex Energy's SSR; ThorCon
        (The first 2 are in Canada, the 3rd: in Indonesia)

        Maybe join the Thorium Community (free!)

        • app "Thorium"

        (If you're NOT concerned about Climate Change
        go find out why maybe you SHOULD be… ;~/


        So, I promote Liquid-Fuel Nuclear (due ~2030)
        with an eye to Ending AU's 1999 Nuclear Energy BAN

        (Smarter Oregon has such a Ban, but
        also has a company working on New Nukes, unfortunately,
        one based on Costly+Wasteful FUEL-RODS)

        (Sweden, France & Ontario Canada are
        the 3 World LEADING GREEN Countries,
        due to their use of Nuclear Energy.)

        • ThoriumRemix.com (I'd start w/ 2011's docu)

        OK, if you insist on staying in a Money field:

        Go research CryptoCurrencies (avoid investing)
        & learn enough about them to help banks &/or
        other companies how best to use 1/some to Save
        their customers bank fees, etc.

        • Once you have $40K, more doesn't make you "happier"

          Sounds like you just lack imagination. For myself personally stacking cash gives me peace of mind so the higher the income the better. Other people can and will spend more and feel happy.

      • I work in Events

        Bottom end of scale: $40 k (entry level)
        Top End: $200k (partner events firm)

        These are salaries/ not applicable if you own the events company

        I make $150k as head of events in an association.

        I market all events, raise sponsorship oversee the program, every bit of the logistics and ensure there is a healthy bottom line. Therefore i get paid well.

        I have worked myself from the bottom role to the top and i am paid to ensure that at the end of the FY- Revenue - All costs (including salaries) is way above expenditure.

        I am the deal maker 10% of the time and 90% my roles is supervising the $40 - $100k staffers. My $10% work pays for the entire team salaries.

        My work is 10% complex / 50% routine and I have 40% to fart around.

        It's taken me 20 years (last 10 years as head) to get here / my $40k earner is 20 years younger than me

    • Yeah I was half expecting that but I did it anyway…at least it made for some funny comments which I enjoyed reading!

  • +4

    You have asked people to disclose what they earn, yet have not disclosed what you earn.

    LEAD BY EXAMPLE UNISTUDENT1!

    • +26

      ENOUGH FOR A200 AMG !

      • +1

        Ahh yeah, thx for the reminder.

        How is your AMG, OP?

        • +4

          Sold it! Didn't need a car anymore. Was wasting too much money in rego and insurance etc. Barely used it

    • +1

      Sorry, fixed

    • +8

      Either you've done a bad job interpreting or I've done a bad job explaining. Either way, my intenion is not to find out more about other people for the sake of nothing, but rather to find out what jobs are out there and what people's duties entail. Hoping this will help broaden my horizons when looking for jobs that intrigue me.

        • +9

          Trolling? Or does your job involve little comprehension?

          Anticipating a change in jobs is why OP started the thread.

  • +1

    Accountant but I do all sorts from taxes, payroll, business reports and so on…….. would love the role you have!!! Any chance I could join you? :P

    • Is it well paid?

  • +40

    partner works part time in day care
    i breed salamanders
    dual income total $`2.5 million

    • +9

      wow… your income increased by a millions dollars in a few days.

      • +18

        nearly 12 hours from my last comment

        plus business was good over lunch and that guy that shot pigeons at the airport i thought i was worth more than that lol

        • +5

          i wonder if it's a little sad that i know exactly what you are talking about.

      • lol, i chuckled at your other comment. Chuckled louder at this one

      • +1

        "Despite (or perhaps because of) their formidable size, the Chinese giant salamanders are in trouble. They're a prized food in their native country, with some creatures selling for more than $1,500 apiece"

    • I've got a 12 bedroom mansion to show you that needs a lot of work and is only twice your budget, let's take a look inside.

  • +17

    I also breed salamanders and occasionally dragons as well. Income of 5 mil a year - not bad other than 3rd degree burns.

  • +52

    I work hard 9-5 every day trying to stay awake at my desk while browsing ozbargain.

    • +16

      Mate, you trying to make me redundant?

      • Yes, boss coz you aren't good to me or others

  • +17

    I send emails about nothing particularly important and get paid well to do so.

  • +22

    I am but a humble farmer, tending to my memes.
    It ain't much, but it's honest work.

    • +1

      I heard you were the best.

      • +5

        *herd

  • +36

    I work for a large superannuation company and I deal with auditors like yourself from the B4 companies a lot - which of the B4 depends on who has been appointed for that particular fund.

    I always feel sorry for the young grad auditors that come in from the B4. They're in before I'm in and they're still there when I leave in the afternoon. Whenever I get some free time, I go around to the room and either grab them coffee and breakfast or offer to bring some back for them.

    We were all young once.

    • +10

      Wow - you're extremely generous. Really appreciate that recognition.

      What do you do for work?

      • +1

        I run projects on the super funds. The funds get audited and the projects often get audited too.

        I find that simple things like coffee and breakfast lifts everyone spirits. It's also funny because it's not often the manager that does the coffee run! But I really don't mind that kind of thing and I rarely pull rank unless something really can't be agreed on between us all.

        • Projects as in investment projects?

          You try to develop frameworks to invest the proceeds from Super contributions?

          Also, your exactly right - little things matter! People notice, and often makes them feel special!

          • @activ8newbs: I look after any projects related to the super funds, including the technical and legislative changes. There's work such as new websites, fund design updates, fund manager changes, etc. The bigger projects are fund transitions - bringing across entire superfunds onto our own platforms.

            You try to develop frameworks to invest the proceeds from Super contributions?

            Decisions around investments, are made by the relevant business area. My job is to determine and confirm what they actually want and make it work.

            • +2

              @bobbified: sounds like fun, i was in projects @ BTFG a long while back, good gig!

        • I wish my boss is 1/8 of yours interpersonal skill

  • +10

    My dad was an auditor at a Big 4 back in the day.

    No one stays in it. They just do their time so they can get paid while they're getting their CA out of the way.

    It's just a phase, OP. Do the job for a bit and then seek an exit opportunity elsewhere.

    • The question is…where?

      Go where next. And why?

      • +1

        First place to look would be LinkedIn and Seek for job opportunities.

        Do a bit of research and then hone in on what sort of jobs sound appealing for you from there.

        My dad actually ended up in international development through an MDB - multilateral development bank. While this probably won't be what you'll do, you just need to search around.

      • Run for parliament

  • +8

    I make green ink pens.

    • I read that as green pink pens and for a brief moment you had me enthralled.

    • Do you also make red ones?

  • +2

    I'm also at big 4 in audit

    Surely the turnover of all your colleagues will easily point you to the kinds of jobs you can transition to.

    • +1

      Seems like wherever everyone else goes, it's better pay and better hours but still an equally boring and crappy job.

      I wanna change that..for myself at least

      • +31

        99% of jobs are boring and crappy, welcome to the real world

        • +5

          In past I worked for a game development company. Idea was fascinating ..until we have to do repetetive testing of modules.

          All the fun turned in boring tasks of doing the same level again and again to fix bugs and check connectivity to scoring websites etc.

          So essentially all the jobs are boring or become boring after a while.

      • grass always seems to be be greener on the other side …

  • +17

    I wait for lunch

    • +2

      I wait for retirement…

  • Was at Big 4, transitioned to commercial Financial Accountant, best job ever :). Also repetitive with month end journals, reconciliations and ad hoc work but I like the predictability with better pay and better work life balance (i.e. 9-5).

    • +1

      Is the culture completely different to big 4?

      Does everyone leave at 5?
      Are lunch breaks at least 45 min away from desk?
      Do you work additionally from home?
      Is everyone a CA?

      • +3

        Leaving Big 4 is the best decision I ever made. Instant pay rise and dropped from 60hrs+ per week to 40 or less. I wasn't external audit though.

        Have to say I rarely take lunch breaks, would rather be able to leave work at 5. I still work hard, but nowhere near as many hours.

      • +2

        Yes, the culture is definitely different and much less "toxic". The office politics was noticeably less.

        Depends on where you go but at my place, most people leave at 5pm, and barely anyone except CFO stays after 6pm unless it's budget time or EOFY time. Naturally, the higher you go, the more you're expected to do.

        Lunch break is at least 45 mins, my manager is pretty good in that if you get the work done then he's not going to pull you up for taking an hour lunch every so often (given that he does it too).

        Everyone gets a laptop so you can work from home. A lot of my colleagues have young children so they leave a bit earlier or work from home if need be.

        Most of finance is CA and roles above a certain level require CA.

        To give you an idea, when I quit and got this role, my pay jumped to the equivalent of three levels in Big 4, but had lower responsibilities, better work environment and lower stress. I saw other people at Big 4 get even bigger pay jumps when they quit.

        You're in a good position working in audit since you get to interact with a lot of different roles and get an idea of what they do. For me, I realized I wanted to be a Financial Accountant since I like the financial statements side of things and still get to be privy (at a high level) to everything about the company.

        • I work in industry and B4 provide services to my employer. The auditor senior and manager reply email after 12 midnight and also 5am.

          This is not a joke.

      • +2

        Get a job in tech.

        Get in at 10, leave at 4.
        1-2hr lunch breaks.
        WFH 2 days a week.
        No meetings.
        Breakfast/snacks/drinks provided.
        Macbook Pros, widescreen monitors.
        Sitting/standing desks.

    • +1

      My background is similar to Conan and chcse.

      Moved from big 4 indirect tax to management accountant and have been working in the company for 4 years now.

      Work 8.30 - 5pm. 1 hr lunch to do whatever I want (go outside etc). Never work during lunch like at big 4, can take 30min if I need to leave early. No 6min timesheets Just a weekly: I was here this day from 8.30 - 5pm.

      Overtime is minimal and if I do extra hours (max 3) at month end I’ll get the time back by leaving early/coming in late one day the following week.

      I can work from home, but I’m more productive in the office.

      My pay has also increased quite quickly compared to friends still at the big 4.

      Life is better on the other (commercial) side

  • +6

    My job - make the world a better place

    Pay - priceless

  • +2

    Havnt had a job for 29 years, self employed.

    • +18

      Employee of the month, every month…

    • +2

      I still think that's a job. Unless self-sufficient. Growin' your own corn and stuff like that.

  • +28

    Mergers & Acquisitions. VP.

    This soul crushing job I find myself in is actually quite easy yet has made me feel like some kind of abstraction, but there is no real me, only an entity, something illusory, and though I can hide my cold gaze and you can shake my hand and feel flesh gripping yours and maybe you can even sense our lifestyles are probably comparable: I simply am not there. It is hard for me to make sense on any given level. Myself is fabricated, an aberration. I am a noncontingent human being. My personality is sketchy and unformed, my heartlessness goes deep and is persistent. My conscience, my pity, my hopes disappeared a long time ago (probably at ANU) if they ever did exist.

    There has been no reason for me to tell you any of this.

    • Im actually considering a career transition to M&A advisory

      Advice? Thoughts?

      • +1

        Pretty sure this guy is quoting American Psycho. That said, M&A is interesting and you should look into it. You'll get paid almost as badly as you currently do if you transfer across into one of the related teams in your firm, but at least it'll give you more interesting exit opportunities beyond that. Common paths from there are into corporate development (internal strategy and M&A teams) or less commonly but more talked about, into investment banking, both of which will pay a shitload more than you're currently earning. PM me if you want some more info on the area.

      • If you want burnout and enjoy long hours working. Go for it.

    • +1

      Wow. Thats deep, man.

    • Isn't this a line from American Psycho?

    • +1

      Comment of the day

    • +1

      R U OK?

  • +15

    Look after the little shits while the wife works. Equally as good and not as good as it sounds.

    • I've always dreamed of this as I'm so sick of working 9-5. How long have you been sahd and do you plan to go back to work in a few years?

  • +12

    Sh** shoveler Project manager. On paper it's all about CSC (cost, schedule, contract), but really it's either cleaning up whatever sh*t happens, and if there's currently nothing going wrong, that means something is going to really go to the sh** soon.

    And weirdly, I enjoy it. As I can see the potential cost overruns, schedule blow outs, and claims/disputes that would happen if I didn't do it. And some of the people I've worked with over the years are absolute legends that have made it worth it. Only for masochists who somehow enjoy thankless yet massive, uphill challenges for purely the experience and people.

    • Thanks

      What degree and level of qualifications required for the job?

      Also, what's the pay like? Job security? Location?

      Feel free to answer or not answer. It just sounds like a cool job and I want to know more.

      Thanks

      • +5

        Bachelor of Engineering w. Honours in my area, but the only way is experience based over years. Masters in project management are only useful years down the track when people are stepping into project director type roles.

        Other areas have it too wherever there's projects, like IT, architecture, etc. Experience usually is leading a little package based on one's original area of training, growing to leading a project within one's area of training, and then scopes/projects with other disciplines involved. My area calls the pre-project management roles "project engineering", and even with that people can just specialise in project engineering. Like specialise in running certain types of scopes within projects/managing specific areas like procurement packages.

        Pay varies by industry, experience, and location. Like drastically. PayScale may help with giving you different ranges from different inputs.

        Job security depends on what does the industry do in a downturn. Usually maintenance focused industries keep going but new stuff slows down. But then if people are willing to move to follow the work, it's not so bad. Last downturn a lot left WA to overseas. I stayed in maintenance engineering projects.

        • Any tips on someone trying to get into PM with no experience but a Masters in PM degree? Can't seem to land a job, not even entry role

          • +2

            @Legend279: Project coordinator roles within any consultancy, i.e. Coffey.

          • +1

            @Legend279: Where I work, experience doing the actual work that's getting managed is needed, then coordinating stuff from that team, then roles reporting to a project manager, then project manager. The degree is for supplementing exisiting project managers going into very large or high risk projects. But the degree is more for selling the person when bidding for that work - they rely on their experience.

            E.g. To PM engineering consulting projects a path could be graduate electrical engineer -> electrical engineer-> senior electrical engineer -> coordinating the electrical engineering delivery on a project -> project engineer on electrical packages reporting to a project manager/senior project engineer-> project engineer of multi-discipline packages reporting to a project manager/senior project engineer -> senior project manager with project engineers reporting to you and reporting to a project manager -> project manager of small projects -> project manager of medium projects -> etc.

            In the area I work, there's no way to get into it without experience in the actual work that's taking place under the project manager. A technical understanding is essential. Even if in the end the PM isn't do to with the original degree, the path itself is the education.

      • Pay is shit to start good after years i.e. 150k to 250k no problem. However… Not everyone is cut out for it, you may fail early and be stuck on the 60k roles again.

    • +1

      and if there's currently nothing going wrong, that means something is going to really go to the sh** soon. and weirdly, I enjoy it. 

      Lol made me crack up. Very true.

  • +34

    My job often involves just showing up followed by waiting 8 hours to go home.

    • +4

      Odd, we work in the same department yet can't recall seeing you around…

      • +8

        I have many good hiding spots.

  • +6

    Uber driver earning between 0 to 400k

    • 400 k? lol

  • +45

    I make $22/hour working at the same fast food outlet 4 of my siblings have worked at.

    I work primary serving customers and packing orders. I am not fast, even though I have worked here for the tail end of a decade. Many customers say that I have good customer service manner (I have been told this literally hundreds of times) but I don't see what I'm doing that is special.

    A typical hour of peak work would be serving 60+ customers at either drive thru or front counter. After taking their order I accept their payment, give them their drinks and provide them their receipt (many people do not like to get their receipt for some reason). In some occasions I will have to inform other people working of special requests from customers, or notify them (due to the stupid POS system) that a change has been made that they otherwise would not notice.

    A typical hour of non-peak work would be serving less than 60 customers in an hour, sometimes they arrive in waves, then once dealt with there will be lull of a few minutes before another wave comes (The waves are sometimes 10 minutes apart, then bam). During periods of non-peak I not just serve customers but also prepare their orders. In this situation I will have chips (about 2 large), nuggets and other such things ready so that when a customer makes a small order there is minimal waiting. Once that has been setup I will begin one of the following tasks: sweeping, filling fridges, emptying bins, cleaning counters, replacing/replenishing foodstuffs, filling freezers, making sure we have enough of less common foodstuffs, replacing paperstocks etc.

    Some of those tasks are difficult to do due to the time required to setup. For example, emptying bins (empty bin, replace binbag, walk bag to bin, wash hands) takes about 2 minutes which means that sometimes you get a third of the way through the task, but need to stop and serve the customer (after washing hands, which at that point means putting the bag in the bin would have added a mere 20 seconds to the wait time, but I know that's just too long waiting at the speakerbox without hearing anything). This can sometimes make simple tasks take a long time to do.

    I work a very small amount per week, and am mooching off of my parents. Nobody is happy about the situation.

    • +5

      Thanks for sharing your honest answer

      • +1

        I have a few questions about your job and how that works if you don't mind.

        1. You work on-site, do you get paid for traveling hours?

        2. Do you have a company car that you use to travel to these offices?

        3. How long do you spend at each place?

        4. How much interaction is there between you and the people working at the office? (Is there someone always with you to answer questions, etc)?

        5. Have there been days where you haven't been assigned someone to audit? If so, what do you do on such a day?

        Looking forward to your responses!

        • +1

          1) not paid for travelling/hours but reimbursed petrol and if I'm staying over night, they'll pay all associated costs

          2) no company car. You're expected to have your own car if you wish to travel. Sometimes they'll pay for your uber if it isn't ridiculous

          3) varies dramatically. Smallest has been a few hours. Longest has been a few months (10 months). Usually between 2-6 weeks though

          4) we talk to the client about 5-10 times a day. Usually via email. Or sometimes I'll drop by their desk. Depending on their rank. I.e if I'm dealing with the CEO, communications are less frequent and morw formal. If it's just a finance manager then more frequent etc

          5) yes. But rarely. Usually just watch Netflix in a private room. Or catch up on other pending work. Life admin maybe

    • +2

      Where is this mythical fast food store where customers can get served in under one minute?

      • +5

        Just served, not food given as well.

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