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

    • +3

      Do you have other plans for the future? I don't mean to offensive but you seem quite articulate and are probably capable of attaining a higher paying role.

    • many people do not like to get their receipt for some reason

      anyone can suggest why? I’m at loss.

  • +13

    I shoot pigeons at the airport. It involves me shooting pigeons at the airport.

    • It sounds like some Neeson would say.

    • Can you please clarify something for me. What exactly are you shooting?

    • +1

      Do you worry about being replaced by a scarecrow?

      • +1

        Yes I haven't slept properly in years.

    • and donate the gold coins into jet engines?

  • +25

    I work:
    3 days at week at my first job - admin/bookkeeper
    1 day a week at my 2nd job - admin/bookkeeper
    1 day a week at my 3rd job - bookkeeper
    Unlimited hours at my 4th job as an on call fire fighter
    Am studying around all the the above
    Am a single parent to 2 girls

    Pros - I don’t get bored, I don’t have time to consider a new job, one of my jobs pays me 12 weeks annual leave and I’m months away from long service. All jobs are within 10 mins drive of my home. I also get 3 staff Christmas parties every year.
    Cons - I don’t earn as much as you.

    Good luck finding your passion.

  • +4

    Shift sideways into consulting at your big 4. It's much more interesting and highly varied. You get parachuted into different organisations across different industries and are asked to analyse their business and help solve their problems. Very vague description but that's exactly how varied the role is. You may eventually align to an industry but that generally doesn't happen straight away. I started as a consulting grad at the smallest big 4 at the time. Earnt a measly $46k. The grad program and learning was worth it in the end. Best thing I did was to leave after about 5 yrs. Next job was for a small consulting company that couldn't get off the ground so I left and went contracting. Next best decision as it set me up to fast track mortgage payments whilst still doing consulting like work and work I really enjoyed.

    Btw if you're chasing money, get out of the big 4 as soon as you can. Nearly every other organisation pays more and probably works you less. Aldi (supermarket) were paying grads $80k starting salary probably 4 yrs ago. Probably now starting on $85-90k. Problem with big 4 is you work your ass off for years and never see a financial reward unless you stick it out to partner level.

    • Awesome advice. Love this

      My career coach suggested something similar. Can you please tell me a bit more? I really don't know what consulting is.

      What technical hard skill will make me a good con? Excel?

      Can you give me an example of a problem you solved at a client?

      Please? I can't find this information anywhere. Anyone who I ask personally, always blows up their story to make them sound like a hero lol

      Thanks so much

      • +3

        Consulting varies depending on the type you get into.
        Strategy consultants look at high level business strategies to improve an organisation's performance or solve a strategic problem. Normally they work on short intense projects lasting up to around 2 months and deal with exec level stakeholders. Small project team of up to 6 or so including a partner, director and manager.

        Human capital consultants work on things like large org restructures or changes to business operations. Can quite often work to support IT and strategy projects.

        IT consulting generally covers reviewing IT systems and business processes to see how IT systems can be improved or replaced to meet new needs. This is the area in which I work. It is quite detailed and involves lots of low level analysis which can become quite technical. But it also requires you to have a business focus and not be only thinking about the tech details.

        All good consultants will need to know how to effectively communicate with stakeholders verbally and in writing normally in elaborate powerpoint decks. Often theyre only small packs but a lot of work goes into preparing them and doing the research and work to succinctly convey the key points. Search up Barbara Minto, MECE and structured problem solving. These concepts are key to being a good consultant. Most domain knowledge is learnt on the job. E.g. I learnt how an energy retailer works on the job. But the approach you take to problem solving is the same. Your big 4 will have a set of consulting frameworks and tools to help you do this regardless of client or industry. You just need to apply this to your job.

        Make friends with some consultants at your big 4 and ask to see some of their packs or typical deliverables. It'll give you a better idea.

        • +2

          I work in IT consulting (software) on and off for the last 10 years.

          Pro's:
          - Lots of variety
          - No fixed workplace (I have a desk at an office that I go to once every 3 months), with anywhere from a couple of work from home days a week up to a few months of working from home when client is in a different location
          - Flexibility as I can drive much of my own schedule dependent on tasks
          - Pay can be decent, although took a couple of years to move out of $70kish bracket

          Con's
          - Travel, this would have been a pro in the early 20's but looses it appeal pretty quickly
          - Potential for long days / weeks / months
          - Can take a long time to adjust to the consulting life style, as it can be very unforgiving if you are a procrastinator

          In the last few years I have come into the realization (at the age of 35) that I may never find my dream job, and have accepted that doing something I am good at and do not necessarily hate has made it much easier to deal with the grind.

      • +3

        A consultant is someone who is paid to write a report which agrees with what management have already decided to do, so they can show it to the board and convince them that it's the right plan. I'm sure there are consultants that add value, but I'm also sure there are more consulting reports sitting in draws untouched and unused than there have been successfully implemented projects that were suggested by consultants.

        For those people who work in IT consulting or other "implementation" consulting, this is slightly less true. They're basically outsourced specialists because a company doesn't want to have to pay someone full time to do that job, occasionally they do stuff. If you go to a firm like Telstra or Australia Post, you'll see thousands of consultants who should probably be employees of the firm, but instead are costing the firms a shitload of money and delivering almost nothing.

        • +1

          This comment feels like it belongs on the consulting memes Instagram page.

        • Brilliant synopsis. Unbelievably true.

      • Most jobs are not going to give you any kind of purpose unless that purpose is moving up the hierarchy. I don’t care about external validation so it’s about earning as much with as little effort to accumulate my fcuk you money.

    • +1

      I like your advice.
      Is Advisory the same as consulting? More specifically Technology Risk within Advisory.

  • +1

    Another ex Big 4 auditor here. Left audit after just under 4 years and CA qualified. Now in my first industry gig at a boutique (active) fund manager as a financial accountant. Great bump up in salary, less volatility in terms of workload, good exposure to a lot of technical and soft skills. Ultimately my goal is to transition into commercial finance/FP&A though, can't see myself doing technical accounting forever.

  • +1

    Admin @ Super; processing superannuation contributions, contacting employers (inbound and outbound). $62k p.a.

  • +1

    Scaffolder earning 80-100k a year.

  • +5

    (Senior) Systems Engineer. I delve in all things Linux, a bit of Windows, SANs, Cisco UCS, Voip (Freeswitch, Cisco, FreePBX). Networking and scripting/SQL smarts when required. Essentially, I make sure the stuff works and does not break. $145k.

  • +2

    Risk Analyst at a Bank. I focus on data analytics, excel and reporting. It pays the bills so I'm happy.

    • What analytics tool/software do you use? Self-learn or on-the-job training?

      • Excel, SAS, Qlik… all self-taught whilst on the job lol

    • I'm currently a maths major at uni. Risk analysis is something I'd be keen on. in your knowledge, are maths majors preferred/seen as equal/not preferred to actual finance majors? Do you need much coding? How's the pay?

      Cheers!

      • +1

        In my experience, you don't need a background in finance as a lot of the risk managers here are all mathematicians/statisticians. For what it's worth, a lot of the risk analysts at my company actually have engineering backgrounds. I learned to code/program on the job (free udemy courses posted on OzBargain), it is expected that you should know the basics. I'm in consumer banking so the pay isn't amazing… the pay would be much better at an investment bank/hedge fund/private equity firm.

  • +3

    Engineer - studied civil engineering at university (QUT). Just over 10 years experience, work 40ish hours a week as a full time employee. I am essentially a spreadsheet operator. I spend most of my time on spreadsheets and occasionally some time in MS Project, Primavera and now PowerBI. Started at about 60K straight out of uni in 2008 to now over 160K+super etc. Could have become a consultant with my own PTY LTD, and make double that, but that might happen one day. Considered doing post-grad studies like an MBA, but it's not like it would suddenly earn me double the salary.

    • +1

      Also an engineer, also operate spreadsheets and read a lot of reports. Less than 4 years out of uni and on 120 + super. Not the most exciting job in the world but good enough

    • what kind of spreadsheets?

  • +2

    Television operations. Controlling cameras, switching video circuits, recording media, operating satellite facilities etc. 38 hours a week minimum. 75k Inc super + overtime.

    • How did you get into this profession?

      • +1

        A friend's dad was a technician at the ABC. Got a bit of weekend work through him and it went from there. Lucky I guess.

  • +6

    Formerly an Auditor as well, now a CFO.

    My job involves tormenting the accountants to get the accounts ready for the auditors and then forcing the auditors to provide a clean opinion so I get my bonus.

    Jokes aside, your stuck feeling is experienced by nearly every auditor. Most make the jump to the commercial world, usually as financial accountants and working their way up from there.

    Audit hours are long, work is repetitive and you meet clients who make your life hard by not providing you the information you need until the 11th hour where you then need to finish off your work papers and hope to God there aren't too many review points coming back to you.

    I wasn't able to get out of accounting as the job enables me to provide for my family and for my wife not to work, still don't love it but it pays for a lifestyle.

    My day is wildly variable - lots of meetings and solving problems for other people. Just before browsing Ozbargain and typing out this reply I was extremely frustrated with a CPA qualified accountant who couldn't figure out how to account for intercompany transactions. I had to type out a T account template for every transaction which I will now print and try not to scream as I explain it to him.

    • +2

      Yeah I have a really tough time telling the same big 4 auditor every 6 months how the business works and get back blank stares.

      • +1

        At least you get the same one, incredibly frustrating when the team changes every year and they plainly haven’t bothered to review the prior year’s work in any depth.

    • Username doesn’t check out

      As an aside - surprising a CFO is sitting explaining IC transactions, wouldn’t you make your FC or FM do that?

      • +3

        I am poor because my wife spends all my money!

        I was explaining it to my FM…..FML

    • +1

      who couldn't figure out how to account for intercompany transactions

      To be fair, consolidation is not easy. Commiserations to the both of you. ;)

    • What sort of turnover does your company operate in?

    • Thats typically what happen with CPA.

      Way below standard in comparison with CA

  • -1

    how about becoming vegan activist.
    it seems you get well paid

  • Refer to username

  • TL;DR entire thread.

    I started as a cadet in B4 audit as well. Still am in it 12+ years later. I had a good run though with a few international secondments, client secondments, movements across industry sectors, etc.

    Definitely has a lot of ups and downs, and if you were drawn in by the brochure with the secondments, learning opportunities, etc… then assess if this is what matters to you and pursue them because I found by the time you're 3 or so years in, most people have either left or not interested and those opportunities are there for the taking. The other thing I'd add is that the B4 audit role is as interesting or boring as you make it - with grads finding new things to automate or improve, and the opportunity to learn new skills early on eg Alteryx, and there's always some new accounting standard or regulation on the horizon to tackle, there's no shortage of things which may be less mundane than ticking and bashing (not that young auditors do this so much nowadays).

    That being said if you're set on finding something different, keep your LinkedIn up to date, and when you've got a bit of experience (at least a couple of years) you'll get recruiters calling you left, right and center.

    • +1

      Sounds like what a director at a B4 would say…

  • +3

    I contemplate.

  • +1

    Meet quota of 3 jokes a day between the hours of 9 - 5.

  • +4

    I'm an enviro.

    Don't make much despite doing FIFO. My job is in mining and mainly involves me going around collecting environmental data to ensure that the mine meets environmental compliance. So I might collect seeds for rehabilitation in the morning, grab some water samples around lunch and then work on a report in the afternoon. It's pretty varied and I'm responsible for an area of land over 500 km2, so I get to drive around a lot and spend a bit of time in nature.
    As I go up the ladder, I'll be spending less and less time in the field and more time reporting though.

    Overall, I don't know if I'd recommend it, even to someone passionate about the environment.

    • -3

      even to someone passionate about the environment.

      Surely you mean "especially", not "even"?

  • 60-70k… looks like you just started and are at the bottom.

    It does get better, especially the pay.

  • +1

    Anyone here earns $150K or more?? If so, whats your job and how old are you?

    Thanks.

    After some research, I heard jobs that requires "high level" writing like PR jobs, stackholder engagement, copywriting, Communications earns the big bucks. Is it true?

    • Just search for contracting jobs on Seek. Typical IT business analysts earn minimum $650/day for a junior BA, up to around $800-900

      • +1

        But you just don't start with being a BA, you need some other experience to move onto BA…

        • +1

          Yes true. But if you start as a consultant you can be a BA easily

      • Contracting jobs are not secure though

        • Neither are perm jobs. I've contracted for probably about 7 yrs. Longer than I've been in perm

          • @10101010101: What do you do?

            Do you have a dark period where you get no work at all???

            • +2

              @Homr: I was an IT Business Analyst. Worse period for me was when I was between contracts due to a project getting canned and my timings for a 5 week holiday. I was at home applying for jobs for about 4 weeks or so. Extremely boring after about 2 weeks.
              I probably could have gotten a job sooner but you dont want to compromise on your day rate as you'll be stuck on it until you leave.

      • +1

        I’ve heard junior BAs getting much lower than $650/day. Perhaps around $350-400

        • +3

          They're being exploited and theyre not very good. Unless they're AUD rates for offshore resources. If you know youre a decent BA, you'll get minimum $700. There's a lot of mediocre BAs out there and even they get $650+

    • +5

      Yes, 50% of Ozbargainers earn more than $150k.

      Sorry if you are in the bottom half.

      • +8

        Yes and 50% of Ozbargainers are migrants from Whirlpool

        If you've been to the whirlpool forums, their average salary is $250K+

        • I'm not surprised. Engaging in forums involve a lot of reading and writing and as the average Australian literacy isn't great, those who actually engage in the forums tend to be well educated professionals — middle/upper-middle classes of society.

    • Yes, it's all about engaging with those people who hold all of the stacks (of cash, presumably?).

      • tell us more plz

    • Just etching below ($147k) doing IT Consulting and implementation (software). Highly recommend people looking into the Identity and Access management space (Okta, SailPoint, ForgeRock) etc. It takes some time to learn, but it is a small space (currently - it is on the rise) and many smart people. Recommendations are a bit of Java, SQL, and architecture design. As I do a lot of client based work; there can be good months, and there can be bad months. Currently in a bad month.
      Generally work within my hours, but often on the difficult clients I work weekends just to make them go away quicker… I've had offers of $250k - $350k - but to me it isn't worth it as taxes/medicare expenses will go up exponentially; and these offers come from the more difficult clients who seek me out. Plus, I'm also materially satisfied for now. IF I get a similar offer from a great client; to be honest I would jump on it - otherwise I know these offers will cost my life; so I stick to consulting for now where I get some flexibility to work from home (I'm a long way from most city-based clients), and have an opportunity to also learn more than just a speciality product… Some drawbacks; being that everyone I work with tends to be aged 40-60; and work always is keeping me busy. I've also had to move to somewhere I can also afford to buy (also a pro I suppose) as my parents moved out of the city; you loose friends quickly that way; so I'm down to literally zero friends… My partner is in one of the lowest earning brackets, so that adds some pressure that I may eventually need to step up to a role I may hate; but she's also my rock; and she'll be great with kids when it comes around. 25 y.o Sydney.

      • +1

        25 year old on $147k….even if this includes super, you are way ahead of the curve (as shown by your colleagues being aged 40-60) you can easily buy something in Sydney after 5 years- pay it off in 10. Where's the pressure?

        • Thanks - I'm grateful for what I've got.
          I've purchased out far-west where my partner can be close to her family. Takes me about 2 hours of travel each way per day if required to attend a client site. I'm halfway through repayments on the house, but also about to embark on married life (kids, added costs etc.). I'm willing to continue carrying the financial responsibilities for my partner and I; so she can spend additional time with future kids; especially when they're young as childcare costs would be higher than her income - but at $147k on a single taxable income (meaning more tax) may not cut it for kids + mortgage, luckily I do have access to reach a higher income; but I know full well it will come with a lot of consequences on quality of life. My partner has some limitations on increasing her earning capacity due to severe epilepsy during her younger years, she also will lose any government support when we are married.
          Pressure comes from myself; looking to be the primary breadwinner; and setting up a good life for future wife + children. Potential burnout is quite a real concern however.

          • +2

            @Oipjo: As a contractor, you would setup a discretionary trust and proportion at least half your income to your wife and the rest to your kids. That's going to increase your take home pay considerably at 150k+.

            • @star-ggg: Permanent employee at the moment - but have thought about looking into superannuation contributions etc. to flow from my salary down to the wife-to-be. May look into discretionary trust fund to pay an income if it means take home pay is on the up.
              Either way; on the topic of discussion - I do recommend a role in IT Identity and Access Management; once you get the hang of it (and you're on a good client) it can be a whole lot of fun; especially as many large organisations look to Identity/Access Management as the centre of their operations; being full enterprise admin, and access to most root accounts; you get to play around with a lot of 'power'!
              Always remember though; "With great power comes great responsibility" Uncle Ben, Spiderman.

      • Are you from Whirlpool?

        Makes no sense why you wouldn't take the $350K offer?

        • +1

          Can confirm, no whirlpool accounts were had.

          In specific to that offer - not listed in the JD - but I knew from being onsite that taking an offer of $350k would mean being the scapegoat for a bunch of failures that took place before your time; and hence were outside your control (you could prove it, but only matters if they care to listen); needing to fix a system without receiving the resources you need to fix it. Never receiving the resources you need to fix it. Spending more time at the office than outside it (sleeping hours included). Being responsible for more projects than you're able to process, being responsible for those projects leading to failure; potentially expose yourself to getting sued if you run their company down; and your '12 month contract' likely ended 6 months early, with a very damaged reputation, and the stress cutting at least another year off your life. (TBH I was gobsmacked at the amount they were offering; was considering taking but yeah-nah)

          They were searching for a fall-guy. They might re-offer the role later at half the salary and get two people in; to try and resolve the same issues and have some more success. Other offers I've turned down for $150k-250k generally just involved either working in very high stress environments where it is expected to be understaffed; a lot of work; and being on-site all the time. I have considered 'sucking it up' smash it out for a year or two - but in the end; I prefer the current job security; and the work life balance - remote working for me is a HUGE plus, plus I enjoy that I get to learn a lot while I work. I'm a relatively young; old soul and learned already that life is more than work.

          As mentioned in my previous reply; I'm already materialistically satisfied with my current income - becoming a family man in the next 2-3 years and seeing how we go financially; may change my outlooks… I will however be using every offer given to me; to negotiate my current income :)

  • +2

    Technology Consultant for one of the Big 4. $70k (inclusive of super). You're basically hired as a trainable monkey. I spend most of my time in PowerPoint. Can confirm also feeling "stuck" in the corporate world

  • +3

    Don't do any job that you don't enjoy just for the money. - Well maybe if it's a short term part of a long term goal, but other than that don't do it.

    1. Figure out all the things you enjoy doing.
    2. Find out what jobs involves doing those things.
    3. Find of which of those jobs pays the most.
    4. Do that job.

    Seriously if you have a passion for and enjoy your work you will naturally excel and end up in a much better position overall. If you take some boring higher paying role but grudgingly turn up it's going to be a lifetime of mediocre performance and pain lol

  • +5

    I am a professional Ladyboy, 500k, no money no honey

  • +7

    I work as an Adult entertainer and my channel on onlyfans is currently my main income source at the moment. I do some other stuff on other sites but don't really make much from them. Make on average 3-3.5K per month depends on the amount of one on one live chat sessions I do as they pay best. Yes I enjoy my work but never intended to be involved with the industry until a friend put me on to it.

    • +2

      Anything that caters for someone with a money saving fetish?

      Asking for a friend.

    • Just curious, are those money tax free?

    • 3k a month dang, should of been a woman lol..what do you have to do though?

  • +5

    App developer. $4 and 11 cents in almost 2 years. Cant wait to blow it all on a dominoes value range pizza.

    • I made an app (took me 2 weeks of constant learning and trial and error). It gets all 5 star reviews with great feedback eg. "best app ever for my 4 year old", but it's only hit 300 downloads (so $0.00 revenue). I think it just appears way too low in the play store search. It's a kids education app, by the way, letting them practice reading and writing letters, numbers and pictures.

      Actually, I had to pay like $15 to register for a Play Store dev account, so I'm $15 down on that app.

      • What's the name of the app? Curious because I've got a kid.

        • Name - Draw Letters and Numbers (assuming it even shows up in the search). Android only.

          I designed it for my own child back when he was 2. It turned out he was too young to use much of the features except scribbling. But now that he's 4, he can practice properly using the app.

          It's not as fun as YouTube, but good enough that he opens it by choice sometimes.

          • @HeavenlyHammocks: cant seem to find it, do you have a link?

            • +1

              @tryagain: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.drawletter…

              Looks like another OzBargainer found it - "Awesome app for a 4 year old. Ozbargain recommended!"

              • @HeavenlyHammocks: Downloaded, says you have 1k+ reviews so that threw me. Will let my 4yr old have a go after I do 😆, one thing I noticed is the choose size doesn't seem to work, but I have just upgraded to Android 10 which has caused some issues with other apps so that might be the cause.

                • @tryagain: I'm seeing 11 reviews. But I guess you got the right app if you see the size selector. It's the one with yellow cartoon faces as the icon and menu screen.

                  For the choose size, upon clicking the button, I see a box pop up with 3 size choices. But you see nothing, rather than it crashing? Could be version issues like you mentioned. Maybe the popup boxes got deprecated etc, so it would need upgrading. Sadly a lot of effort for an app with $0.00 revenue.

                  • @HeavenlyHammocks: Sorry 1k+ downloads, not reviews.

                    I see a box pop up with 3 size choices

                    Yep, can see it, it shows fine, just no change when clicking on the dots. The 4yr old is a fan though.

                    Just realised it changes the line size, for some reason I thought it was going to change the letter/number size. So it's all working OK, but haven't come across any ads, is that the reason for no money?

                    • @tryagain: True, no ads. I think 300 downloads would get approx $0 revenue from ads anyway, so I might as well leave it ad-free for the users.

                      When planning the game, I was considering adding extra sections for about $1-2, say a shapes section or dinosaurs section. But that's more-so if it had enough users to make it worth the effort. Like even if 10% of users paid (which sounds high), then that would be just $30 revenue from the 300 downloads so far.

                      From your feedback, apparently the Size icon should be clearer, like showing a line size instead of a dot size.

                      If T_C could chime in, he could say how many downloads it took to reach $4.11.

                      Youtube works in the same way, earnings depending on usage. I had some videos reach about 50,000 views, but I never treated that as a serious business, and I think that's below the requirement to sign up for ads anyway.

                      I have content websites too, which make decent money. Eg. giving free templates for businesses to use, then making money from ads. I have 3 websites on that topic (trying to duplicate the success of the 1st website). The best of the 3 made $7500 in the past year and the worst made $55 (with very little management or new content added, since years ago). The best has about 50+ templates, and gets 150 page views per day (organic search and social). If it was more popular, the money could be good. It's fairly tough to make them popular though.

                    • @tryagain: Oh, maybe the app reached 1000+ cumulative downloads, but has 300+ current installs (new installs minus uninstalls, showing an uptrend in current installs).

      • downloaded and installed will give it to my 3 year old tonight and see what he thinks.

        keep up the good work

  • +1

    I often ask myself this question at my desk…

  • Call centre customer service and sales + arbitrage gambling on the side. $40-$45k all together.

    • How do you get that many arb gambling opportunities?

      • Even the lowest paid call centers generally pay more than 40k, so, the answer is probably that they don't get that many.

        • I only work 2 days a week at the call centre. I spend the rest of week arb gambling

      • I'm in a group for it and we get about 5+ arbitrage games a week. Usually make between $500-$1000 a week from those games.

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