Dealing with Frustration in Data Processing Jobs

Most of our working life in the computer field involves routine, repetitious, and frustrating work. I've heard lots of young people complain that their jobs are dull and that they wish they were in a "glamorous" field. The fact is that every occupation involves a significant amount of "dull" – routine work. The difference is whether we view it as dull or see the cutinized aspects of our job as not just spreadsheets and print-outs, programming language and repeated commands, but as contributing to a larger, more "glamorous" goal.

Accountants basically fall into two groups - those who see the numbers before them as only that, numbers; and those who see the numbers as part and parcel of a more creative end result. The same basic difference can be applied to data processors. Here is where understanding and appreciating a company's overall goals makes a big difference.

Everyone, at some stage in their career, ends up in a job that is less rewarding than they had hoped it would be. The odds are also good that we'll experience at least one boss in our lives who is not particularly sympathetic or pleasant to be with. In fact, we may well end up working for someone who is simply inefficient and inadequate to the job. That situation sets up its own particular brand of frustration and in the long run creates a mediocre data processing department in which employee morale is low, and that falls behind the rest of the company in its growth and the esteem in which it is held.



What can you do to cope with a frustrating job and boss while making whatever moves are necessary to find a better job with a different company? Here are a few suggestions:

• Learn what role your daily work plays in the grander scheme of the department and company, and try to keep your sights on that, rather than on the tedious tasks you are called upon to perform.
  
  
• Adopt the "glass is half full, not half empty" attitude toward your job. No job is all bad, and those who make the best of it concentrate on its positive aspects.
  
  
• Unofficially organize a sort of self-help support group with others who share your feelings and frustrations. That doesn't mean just to complain; there's nothing more annoying than to have another person complain about a situation you're both experiencing, like two people dying of thirst in a desert and one constantly complaining about it. But learn to confide in your co-workers, and try to arrange jobs between you so that the tedium can be broken. For instance, if you are all expected to perform a repetitious task within the department, stagger schedules so that each of you has some quiet, personal time away from the tedium.
  
  
• Start adopting ways I mentioned earlier to turn a bad job into a better one. Try to rise above the mundane routine of the job and pretend that the work is much more important than it actually is. Start dressing better, as though each day represented an important opportunity. It does, if you believe in the concept of "interviewing" for a better job every day you are on the job. Even though it may seem to you - particularly if you're depressed - that no one in the company outside of your immediate group is paying attention, that seldom is the case. There are always advancement opportunities within every firm, and those who consistently put their best job-applicant face forward are often those who receive promotions.
  

I know a man who had distinguished himself in his college days working for the university's campus radio station. The rule for everyone who conducted a radio show was that females were to wear skirts or dresses and men were to wear sport jackets. This person found it odd that anyone cared about what you looked like when you were on the radio. After all, no one was seeing you except others at the station. He brought up the question to the professional manager of the station and was given this answer: "This is a college station, but if you act like a college student while you're on the air, you'll sound it. If you dress up, you'll feel more mature and better about yourself, and that will come across to listeners." Adopt that attitude for a current dull, frustrating task. Dress as though you were involved in an extremely important and exciting project. Your spirits will pick up and, by extension, others in the company looking to promote from within will certainly notice your professional approach to the job.