Career advice for 26 year old

[ajg01]

Ok so I'm nearly 26 (in one month)

Living in the midwest US.

Paying mortgage $700/mo for 1 acre rural small home not at all lookig to relocate. Going to start a garden next year and other projects to maximize usage.

Married with 2 children. Wife cares for home and kids. And dogs and cats.

Grocery $400-500 a month hope to change that.

1 truck but getting a second vehicle soon, another topic altogether. My small pickup is not enough room to transport family. I will keep the truck though because maintaining it and paying insurance is well worth it. I can use it to transport gravel, lumber, or cheap Craigslist items.

Commute to work is 32 miles round trip daily.

I believe that I am fairly fortunate in my career although I do owe $90k in student loans at $1000 per month my largest expense.

My income is roughly $7500 monthly before taxes. Around 5-6k after. Based on industry reports adjusted to my locale I am in the 95th percentile for my profession, data analysis. I have been working for 4 months before that my income was 38% less. But I had other comparable offers.

My new job is insanely boring. I average 4% productivity! That is 4 hours out of 40 hours a week of actual work. My employer could care less... I estimated my boss averages 50% productivity... The company I work for has the most terrible silo effect ever. Every project, which lasts years, has its own staff. Mostly I'm paid to sit around until my skills are needed. The worst part is they are looking to fill 3 or 4 others for other projects when I am virtually a $$$ drain. I've heard long term employees who have been here for years complaining about the same problems. I worked in manufacturing before and had enough work for 7 people...maybe telecom is just a big mess?

So far I have been using my free time to study and review my trade and skills. I've considered teaching and mentoring online college courses for additional income about $1000 a month.

Don't think I can get another job that pays the same being at 95th percentile. Ug is software engineering masters in industrial engineering... So I am qualified for alot of jobs.

Should I milk it as long as I can or find something comparable? Any ideas on how to spend my time getting paid? Double dipping ideas?

Long term I want to go back to school but not certain which subject I would do a doctorate in. And only have 2 or 3 universities within commuting distance. Would need to create some kind of FI to support my household through the ordeal. Any suggestions?

Much appreciated.
Big Tbone

[ether]

Boredom seems to be the biggest issue!
Job sounds like a dream to me! But I totally understand the desire to actually be productive.
Couple things that might help pass the time at work are:

Becoming a wikipedia editor
Reading ebooks
Meeting up with coworkers from a different department and maybe helping out (Depending on the size of the company)
Finding penpals
Become a swing/day trader
Becoming a front or backend website developer (Maybe even work on other contracts at work if you don't mind the risk)

[thrifty++]

I would milk it if I were you while the pay is good. Having a boring job is way better than having a job which is too stressful (which consumes your entire life), I have experienced both.
Given your 4% productivity you could use your time to research frugal cost cutting strategies and investment strategies. You might need to be careful with doing a second job though while at work as you could end up loosing that cushy job you have.

[ajg01]

@Ether

I have considered trading, but haven't done so. As I said we are not allowed to work on other projects. Only the ones we are hired for... One team of 5 guys can be found in the break room 3 or 4 hours a day. I'm not so sure about getting a second job.

@Thrifty++

Yes I think I will look into cutting down on food costs. I agree I should milk it. If I should ever be laid off, then I can get another job in 2 weeks time. Recruiters check with me monthly...

[FBeyer]

Things to do at work if there is truly nothing to do:
Correspondence chess; if you get good you can tutor others later.
Khan Academy for fun. A lot of the exercises are very recreational.
Data Camp; Learn R while doing portfolio analysis or credit risk modelling.
Learn a new computer language: Julia, R or Python.
Write a program that scrapes stock exchange websites around the world for under-valued stocks.
Write a book on your favourite topic; teach it to learn it even better.

Also: Enjoy the job!!!

[sky]

Sounds like the perfect job to ERE on. To fill the time, look for training opportunities that will benefit you on the job and also could be valuable to your career. Either online training or remote.

[JamesR]

So even if it's a huge company with a crazy bureaucracy, don't just settle for your prescribed role.

You've agreed to exchange approximately 1980 hours a year for $90k/salary, and to spend the bulk of that time to provide value to the company.

Outside of the 4% of your role, expand what you do, find some way to provide value to the company or the customers.. Don't just sit on your laurels. If you're bored, work harder. TAKE ON WORK. If you absolutely can't find any work, then quit and get a new job.

ERE isn't for welfare bums.